Legal Matters

Neil Gaiman took his victory lap after the settlement in his lawsuit against Todd McFarlane with comments to the Washington Post's Michael Cavna, talking about the copyright precedents set by all the various rulings over the years.

An epic battle of two of comicdom's most successful figures that lasted more than 10 years has ended, not even with a whimper but a settlement, as Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane have at long last agreed on how to share the rights to characters and stories Gaiman created for McFarlane's Spawn comic.

Once again, a creator loses a copyright battle against a major comics publisher with a major motion picture soon to screen. The artist is living in poverty, has health problems, and is forgotten by the general public. Sound familiar? Read on... it gets worse.

The ugly legal battle between Archie Comics co-CEO's Jon Goldwater and Nancy Silberkleit has escalated in recent weeks with new legal filings. And now a judge has banned Silberkleit from going anywhere near Archie's offices or contacting any of the employees.

Marvel has won a four-year legal battle over who owns the rights to Ghost Rider. On Wednesday a judge rejected the claim by writer Gary Friedrich, who co-created the character in 1972's MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5 along with Roy Thomas and Mike Ploog.

Stopping digital piracy has become a full-time obsession for most major entertainment companies; but the Stop Online Piracy Act now wending its way through Congress is probably not the way to do it -- a far too broad law that would give lawmakers powers to stop just about any activity they don't like via cutting off funding to the site and other zero tolerance measures. Although aimed at hard-to-stop foreign websites that recognize no copyright laws, opponents say the bill goes way too far in allowing copyright holders to choke off stuff they don't want with an arsenal of tools.

You've doubtless heard of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," the comics-ish series that started out as a web feature, become a best-selling book series and expanded into movies. You may not have heard of "Diary of a Zombie Kid" from Antarctic Press. Written by Fred Perry and drawn by David Hutchison, Zombie Kid has drawn attention from the Wimpy Kid lawyers.

Oops, well just yesterday The Beat and Michael Sangiacomo were reporting that Archie Comics co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit was continuing to peacefully tell children about the joys of comics despite her past as the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit. However, it seems that a series of anonymous phone calls alerted school officials to Silberkleit's ongoing legal problems and the school visits were canceled. A comics shop appearance and the sale of comics to benefit the schools have gone on as planned. But there is much more than that going on.

Charges against cartoonist/journalist Susie Cagle for "being present at a raid" have been dropped, although not without a bit of drama:

As of last Thursday, Gareb Shamus is no longer president/CEO of Wizard World, Inc. Being publicly traded, notice of this change had to be filed with the SEC. This includes the company's report:

According to anew mailer, artist Steve Rude has been instructed by his lawyer not to talk about his case. However "He does want me to pass along his deepest gratitude. He really loves reading any mail that comes his way and words of encouragement to be strong." You'll recall that on the night of Halloween, Rude was arrested and charged with assault and violating a court order in a dispute with a neighbor. In happier news, the full color Rude 2012 Sketchbook is now available for presale. This weekend it's on sale for $20. Regular price of $25 goes into effect on Monday. All purchases get am exclusive presale print.

Former comics retailer and convention runner Michael George was sentenced to life in prison today for the murder of his wife Barbara 21 years ago. The sentence was mandatory in Michigan, so there was little suspense. At the sentencing, George still protested his innocence. ""Something will be found,' he told the court. "Someone will come forward. I have never harmed a woman in my life. Let's not forget no one saw me there — no one."